An Alternate View of To Do Lists

When we go up to the cabin we usually have a pretty good “to do” list worked up.

And we usually get most of it done. But not everything. And I never want to feel like we have to. At the house, my M.O. is “finish all the Things. Now!” At the cabin, I’m just not that way. (I am impatient for heat. But I think that’s understandable.)

Saturday morning, after sleeping in and a cozy morning with some spiced cider, we loaded up the last of the insulation, miscellaneous tools, a borrowed generator, and lots of clothes. At about 4,000 feet, we started to see skiffs of snow on the ground. By the time we passed through our gate (about 4,700′ feet), the ground was covered. The last stretch up to the cabin required 4-wheel drive.

The to-do list was simple:

Finish the roofing

Tar paper the outside of the cabin

Gather wood

We managed to gather wood.

And did some of the roofing.

And generally felt that we didn’t get much done.

The best parts of the weekend were spent clutching our hot chocolate or tea and staring out the window at the snow dusting the peaks all decorated with bright yellow tamarack. The best parts were shuffling around on game trails and noticing the elk, moose, deer, and bear sign.

It was nice to scurry around retrieving things while F worked on the roof. It felt good to load up a whole truck load of wood mostly by myself (F wielded the chainsaw). But when we didn’t finish everything we’d expected, it was really pretty okay (F did get a little grumpy when rain started to fall when he was on the roof but I think that was understandable.)

We’re both looking forward to more time up there. Time where we can shed our coats, relax and let the dog curl up on our feet. Time when it’s okay to sit and relax and talk and enjoy what we’ve worked for.

Related

5 Replies to “An Alternate View of To Do Lists”

gosh, lady! that’s a simple to do list?? That seems ambitious for one weekend. although we usually have really ambitious to do lists too, but then we just remind ourselves that it is called a vacation house for a reason. We both work full time during the week so with only 2 days a week to do what we want, it’s pretty easy to convince ourselves that we should just relax and only do stuff if we want to. At this rate, it will take years for the cabin to be how we want it, but we’re ok with that.
Heat is a must though, and I can understand why you’re impatient for that!

I called it simple because if we’d have just gotten to it we probably could have finished in an afternoon. But somehow the stapler for the tar paper went AWOL. And it was cozy to sit with my tea (although it got cold pretty fast).

Forrest pointed out last night that there will probably always be things we want to do up there, so why rush through things and make ourselves miserable?